Madonna and Child with The Infant Saint John the Baptist and angels

Filipepi Alessandro called Sandro Botticelli and workshop

(Florence 1445 - 1510)

The painting is one of the masterpieces of 15th-century Florentine art, which possibly came to the Borghese Gallery via the legacy of Cardinal Anton Maria Salviati, who died in Rome in 1602. The entry of the panel into the Borghese collection can be traced with certainty to the acquisitions of the most distinguished figure of the Roman family, Cardinal Scipione. Inventory mentions indicate this tondo as a work by Ghirlandaio, but it has now been correctly attributed to Botticelli's workshop with autograph interventions by the master, dated between 1485 and 1490.

Object details

Commentary

The work, probably intended for private devotion, depicts an enthroned Madonna with the Child in her arms. In her left hand she holds a pomegranate, a symbol prefiguring the passion of Christ. In the foreground on the left is the infant St John kneeling and facing the two protagonists, who are surrounded by six angels leaning against a balustrade that cuts centrally through the composition. The scene is set within an architectural structure, with three flower vases acting as a backdrop, behind which is a window from which the blue sky can be seen in the background.

This large-scale tondo, which possibly came from the collection of Cardinal Anton Maria Salviati (who died in Rome in 1602), is recorded in the inventory of the collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese of around 1633. In the absence of certain attribution, it was defined thus: ‘A painting of the Madonna with her son in her arms, St John on his knees with six Angels, diameter 7 palms, carved and gilded frame. Uncertain’; the painting was subsequently mentioned in the 1693 inventory with attribution to Ghirlandaio, and only with the fideicommissary list of 1833 did Botticelli's name appear.

Regarding Botticelli’s authorship, the opinion of the critics is not unanimous: the panel is entirely by the artist’s hand for Crowe and Cavalcaselle (1864, pp. 425-426), Ulmann (1893, pp. 125-126), Venturi (1893, p. 169), Bode (1921, pp. 132-134), Schmarsow (1923, p. 69). However, it was considered a product of his workshop for Morelli (1890, pp. 105-106, who, however, traced the composition back to Botticelli and hypothetically also the related cartoon), Horne (1908, p. 126), Yashiro (1929, p. 232), Van Marle (1931, p. 221), Gamba (1936, p. 210), Mesnil (1938, p. 137) and Lightbown (1978, pp. 130-131). Some scholars took an intermediate position, for example, Berenson (1936, p. 91), Salvini (1958, p. 76), Della Pergola (1959, p. 18), Gianandrea (2009, p. 84), Zambrano (2009, p.192) and more recently Rinaldi (2023, p. 216), who considered it a work of the master assisted by a pupil. In fact, it should be noted that since it is the largest Botticelli tondo that has survived, and that similar dimensions would not be deemed suitable for a work of secondary importance, involving only workshop assistants, the work is more likely to have been a collaborative product, commissioned in a Florentine environment (also because of the presence of John the Baptist, patron saint of the city, see Zambrano cit., Rinaldi cit.). In any case, the idea almost certainly came from Botticelli, while his actual participation in the painting process remains more uncertain. However, from the preparatory drawing visible via infrared we can appreciate the high-quality level of execution which would therefore confirm the contribution of Botticelli, who may have intervened at least on the main figures and angels. The Borghese tondo, generally dated between 1485 and 1490, has also been identified as a prototype of various workshop works (see Lightbown cit.), which attest to the success of this composition and thus to Botticelli's conception at least of the original idea.

Pier Ludovico Puddu